Heal the World L'enfer... c'est les autres Jean Paul Sartre once said.

. Other people say that the hell is truth realized too late. I say thats what humanitys about to do: to realize the truth too late. If we want to leave planet Earth as we know it today, as legacy to the next generations, we should think of more environmentally friendly and sustainable ways of life. Science has given us great benefits: high-speed means of transport, all sorts of machines that help in our daily activities and, above all, the Internet, the most powerful source of information human kind has ever known, is just one click away. In the meantime, greenhouse gas emission, provoked by the use of fossil fuel continues to damage the planets atmosphere day by day, causing the melt of the ice sheets and the growth of the sea level. In the meantime, deforestation at a wide scale does not give forests the possibility to regenerate and leads to the erosion of the soil, draughts and floods. Moreover, 20% of the worlds population consumes 80% of its resources. Money and economical benefits have become the most important matter of todays life for the Western civilization, while people in Africa and Asia die every day due to the lack of food and water. If things go like this in the next few decades, we risk not only the loss of biodiversity, but also the loss of millions of human lives. So we have to act now! It is a matter of mentality which has to change. And of the way we live today. In my opinion, everything has to be restructured and rethought in the next few years; no second should be lost, because we dont have much time to save our planet. Fortunately, we have the means. As science gave us the means to defy nature, science is capable of helping us fix what we have done wrong. People from all over the world should stop being just consumers and to have a sustainable way of life. First of all, there are numbers of energy regeneration projects, some of which are already used at a large scale. Solar panels made of silicon use the
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energy of the sun and transform it into electricity, such as the Thermal Energy Systems from California, USA. Wind turbines use aeolian energy to make electricity. In Dallas, USA, there is a field of 421 such turbines which produce 735 megawatt of electricity. These and other innovative projects are the ones that can save our planet. One of the latest discoveries is the Wave Power Station from Portugal, which uses the waves power to produce electricity. It is 150 meters long and has 3.5 meters in diameter. While floating on the water, it can produce up to 2.25 megawatt. In Australia an innovative idea has been tested; a huge tube that carries liquid CO2 deep into the ground, so it does not rise up in the atmosphere. This is a manner in which factories from all over the world would stop polluting the atmosphere. At the same time, we should think of ways to use less electricity. Fluorescent light bulbs work not only more efficiently, but they also consume less energy than the incandescent ones and, instead of providing heat, they provide only light. On the other hand, another important environmental issue is the means of transport which also use fossil fuel in order to function. If cars were replaced by electric vehicles that can be recharged anytime and normal trains were widely replaced by magnetic trains, which practically levitate a few inches above the tracks, means of transport would be less polluting. However, sustainability means not only being careful about how we use energy; it also involves the reuse of the recycle of certain objects. Science gives us a hand here too; in the future almost all the countries will benefit from recycling factories that will not only recycle paper, glass or plastic, but also big machines, such as refrigerators, or even cars. Water is, as well, an important matter. It should also be recycled and, on coast regions, desalinized. Big factories have already started desalinization processes in some African countries, which will provide cool water for thousands of people.

All these being said, I am sure there are hundreds of other technological means of protecting our planet. The question that stands still is: will humans choose to do so? Its not too much to do, after all. With governmental and scientific help and with a little more care about the environment, the planet will bloom again, pure as in the first days of its existence. Its up to us, the 21st century people to do something and pressure our governments to change something. It wont be easy, but 100% of the worlds population making a small thing makes a big difference. As Michaels Jacksons song says: Heal the world, Make it a better place, For you and for me And the entire Human Race Do you want to heal the world?

1. Category: Youth 2. Essay title: Heal the World 3. My name: Oana-Maria Talos 4. Postal address: Fantanele Street, no 63-65, bloc B9, app 310, Cluj Napoca, Cluj district. 5. Phone number: +40742235413 6. E-mail address: black_rock_37@yahoo.com 7. Nationality: Romanian 8. Age: 18 9. Sex: F 10. School name: Emil Racovita National College 11. Word count: 838